


Better Dig Two

by srmiller



Series: why don't we hold hands on the way down [1]
Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Established Quintis, Gen, Multi, Quintis - Freeform, revenge bomb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-11 15:04:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5630953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/srmiller/pseuds/srmiller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts out as an ordinary day for Toby, he goes to work with his badass girlfriend, he watches Walter and Paige awkwardly pretend like they're not desperately thirsting for each other, but in the way of Scorpion the day goes from normal to desperate when Happy steps on a pressure plate, triggering a bomb the team has to disarm before the building, and the love of Toby's life, goes up in flames.</p><p>Mondays suck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m just saying if you drink the last of the milk you throw the jug away,” Happy scolded Toby as they walked into the garage for work first thing Monday morning. “You don’t put it back.”

“But the garbage was full,” Toby protested as they stopped in the empty space between the desks and Happy’s workshop area.

“Gee, you’re right. I can’t imagine what you could have done then.”

Toby smiled at the sarcasm and grabbed her hand before she could walk in to her area and start banging on things. “How about I steal the milk from the fridge to take home and I’ll take out the trash when we get there.”

She studied him for a moment while he gave her his most endearing smile, and then sighed heavily. “Fine.”

“And my undeniable charm works again.”

“Don’t push it, doc,” she warned but she was smiling when he kissed her.

Toby let go of her hand and turned to walk to his desk, stopping when he saw Paige had been watching him and Happy with a small smile on her face. “What?”

“Nothing,” Paige answered, then shrugged when the look he gave her was one of disbelief. “I don’t know it’s just…nice, you two I mean. Being all together and stuff.”

He smirked as he walked towards her, hands absently gripping the strap of his bag. “Because as a mutant species it doesn’t make sense?”

“No,” she assured him, and he felt a twinge of guilt mixed with amusement as he saw panic cross her face before she realized he was teasing her. “I just meant that, being geniuses and what not, I thought it meant it was hard for you guys to relate to people but you and Happy seem to make it work.”

Immediately understanding Toby relaxed his posture and sat on the edge of Paige’s desk as if he had all the time in the world. “Well, Happy and I are not quite as evolved as some other people in this building I might name who simply have their head up their ass.”

Paige didn’t pretend not to understand him, and the head up the ass comment at least got her to smile. “Yeah, well if you’ve got a solution for that let me know because I’d be interested in hearing it.”

“Solution for what?”

Toby and Paige both looked up to see Walter coming down the stairs and Toby immediately covered with the ease of someone who lied maybe just a little too well. “For co-ed living. Does the placement of the toilet seat really matter that much?”

Covering her mouth with her hand Paige laughed as Walter stared at them, looking as if he knew he was missing something but not sure what it was.

“Um. Okay. Well Cabe is coming over in a few minutes with a job, Paige can you check the schedule and make sure we don’t have anything coming up which might get in the way of a long term project?”

“Yeah sure,” she agreed as she turned to her computer and before walking away Toby laid a hand on her shoulder.

From his place at his desk, not even bothering to pretend to work, Toby watched Walter step closer to Paige who scooted her chair back to be able to look up at him without craning her neck.

The awkward sexual tension reminded him of penguins.

“I found a copy of Alice in Wonderland on the counter upstairs, any idea where it came from?”

She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “No, but it could be one of Ralph’s books from schools. I’ll ask him when I pick him up later.”

“Thanks.”

Neither of them moved. Just stood there. Awkwardly. Like penguins.

“So what’s the job with Cabe? We’re not going to Bosnia again are we?”

Walter smiled and uneasily shifted on his feet. “Yeah, no, I don’t think Toby could handle loosing another hat.”

“Um, my girlfriend gave me this hat,” Toby cut in from his desk, pointing to the hat he was currently wearing. “If Bosnian rebels or aliens from outer space want it they’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.”

“Noted,” Walter nodded with an awkward, if affectionate smile. He still hadn’t quite adjusted to Toby and Happy’s relationship even though it was a good six months old and they practically lived together. For Walter, any emotional change required two years of adaptation and an intricately drawn map by Paige.

“Cabe thought we might go through some cold cases and see if there’s anything we can do to develop new leads but we’ll need to set aside time to upload the files and develop a software we can use for going through the files.”

“Sounds boring,” Paige remarked dryly.

Walter laughed and Toby thought about locking him and Paige in a small room for an hour just to see what would happen. “To each their own I suppose.”

“Okay, well I’ll check the schedule and rearrange anything I can. In the meantime-“

“Guys!”

Everyone looked up at the sound of Happy’s voice-shaky and troubled- from the other side of the garage, half hidden by the shelves, and before the word was finished Toby was already up and moving across the room. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

She was standing next to her work table which was covered in pieces of metal, hair up even though it had been down when she’d walked in. But it was the look of panic on her face which immediately caught Toby’s attention.

“I don’t know,” she admitted, her eyes focused on Toby’s. There was fear in them. “I was heading over to my shelves and when I stepped on the floor I heard something click.”

“Click?” Walter asked as he stepped around Toby, Paige right behind him absently reaching for his arm as if to keep him from doing anything potentially stupid.

And, knowing Walter, it was likely that was exactly what he was going to do.

“Yeah, and then I looked up and I saw that.”

They followed her pointed finger to an image being projected onto the wall above the door of a clock, steadily counting down.

“What the hell?” Toby asked, panic already finding a foothold in his gut.

“Why is there a clock counting down?” Paige asked, making a valiant attempt not to let her voice shake but failing spectacularly.

Walter pried Paige’s grip loose from his shirt sleeve and stepped closer to Happy, bending at the knees so he could get a closer look at the flooring underneath her feet.

“It’s depressed slightly,” he announced flatly.

“Pressure plate,” Happy clarified, her eyes darting up to meet Toby’s and he realized in an instant what she thought, what she’d likely guessed from the moment she’d stepped on to the plate and heard the sound of the click.

“We don’t know if that means anything,” Toby was quick to argue, desperate to convince himself as well as the woman he loved and everyone else in the room.

“Why else would there be a pressure plate which starts a countdown clock?” she challenged.

“Are you guys saying Happy is standing on a bomb?” Paige asked and Toby recognized the shrill sound which could quickly lead to a panic but he trusted Paige, and he’d seen her in enough dire situations to know she’d get it under control sooner rather than later.

“We don’t know that,” Toby cut in before anyone could confirm. He didn’t want to think about Happy standing on a bomb. If he didn’t think it, if no one thought it, there was no one way it could be true.

And in the back of his mind, his subconscious applauded him for his superb denial.

“Someone needs to get down there to see what’s going on,” Walter decided, his tone so matter of fact Toby felt like hitting him.

“Everyone else stand still,” Walter ordered as he rolled up his sleeves and slowly walked to the other side of the room, examining each section of flooring before putting his foot down until he finally found his way to an old hatch which led to the crawl space beneath the building.

Out of the of the corner of Toby’s eye he could see Paige pulling out her phone and putting it to her ear. “Cabe? I know you’re on your way but you might want to put on the sirens and the lights. We’ve got a situation here.”

Walter disappeared in to the hatch and could be heard moving beneath the concrete floor when Happy met Toby’s gaze. “You all right, Doc?”

He laughed and it sounded on the verge of hysterical because she was the one potentially standing on a bomb but he was the one she was concerned about. “Yeah, I’m thinking about starting a book club. What are you feelings on Fifty Shades of Grey because let me tell you, I have a lot of thoughts.”

“Toby,”

“Who would do this?” Toby asked, ignoring Paige's scold because she was still on the phone with Cabe, telling him what little they knew.

“Someone came in to our place and put a bomb here for Happy to step on,” Paige informed Cabe who was now on her cell phone’s speaker.

“We don’t know what it is,” Toby tried to remind the room. He took a cautious step forward, careful to make sure he didn’t trigger another panel or do something stupid like trip and knock Happy off the one she was already standing on. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be better once I know what I’m standing on,” she admitted. “You guys should get out of here.”

“Fuck that,” Toby bit out even as Walter reemerged from the hatch covered in dust with a quiet panic in his eyes.

“It’s a bomb,” Walter confirmed with a hard nod and behind him Toby could hear Paige whisper ‘oh god’ which was a lot more network friendly then the words Toby was thinking.

“It has two triggers.”

“What are they?” Happy asked and Toby kind of wished he could grab her hand or do something besides stand there uselessly as a hundred different scenarios burned through his head.

“The pressure plate you’re standing on is one, and the other is a timer but it doesn’t match the countdown clock displayed on the wall so there’s no way to be certain which one is the correct timer.”

Walter laid a hand on Toby’s shoulder while he met Happy’s gaze with the kind of confidence Toby was going to need before all this was through. “We’re going to get you out of this Happy. Just hang in there.”

“Sure thing,” Happy nodded but her voice was shaky and instead of picturing all the things which could go wrong Toby started imagining everything he would do to the son of a bitch who was stupid enough to put Happy’s life in danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [share on tumblr if you liked it!](http://awriterincowboyboots.tumblr.com/post/136575484144/better-dig-two-chp-1)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Using what clues they have, the cyclone uses their brains to figure out who planted the bomb Happy is currently standing on but Walter makes the realization Happy might not be the only person in his life who is in danger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> congrats to maggiemaye who totally called the bad guy in this fic

Toby watched with Paige from a distance as Cabe argued with a very stoic looking man in slacks and a windbreaker, and while having multiple letters after his last name helped, Toby was aware it didn’t take a degree to see the tension and anger spouting off both men.

“It’s a pissing match,” Toby muttered and some innate maternal instinct had Paige reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder to offer comfort. It had taken a while to get used to those touches. Almost absent in their caring and nurturing, Toby had automatically wanted to pull away from the unfamiliar concept of comfort but being a doctor of the mind meant it was difficult not to shrink himself.

He knew the reason he automatically wanted to pull away was because he didn’t want to come to depend or need those reassurances in case they ever went away but right now he leaned into the support she offered quietly and thanked whatever mystical powers held sway over the universe which had allowed Paige to enter his life and become his friend.

Behavioral patterns knew, he wasn’t exactly an easy person have as a friend.

“If this government asshole doesn’t let us back into the garage in the next three minutes I’m going to start punching someone.”

She squeezed his shoulder, as much of a warning as a show of support. “Let me go talk to Cabe,” she negotiated. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Shortly after Cabe had shown up some twenty minutes ago Homeland Security had pulled into the Scorpion parking lot. Sirens wailing and badges waving, they’d informed the cyclone they were to leave the premises and let the professionals do their jobs.

Somehow guessing Toby, and likely Walter as well, were seriously considering making the Federal officers drag them out Paige had pointed out having a scuffle near Happy, who was standing on a bomb, might not be the most logical decision.

Walter had stalked out, and after promising Happy he’d back if she so much as sneezed loudly Toby had followed.

Now Cabe was trying to muscle their way back into the investigation and from the looks of things not doing a great job.

Mr. Slacks and Windbreaker was standing with his feet shoulder width apart, his shoulders pushed back and hands on hips. Defensive, Toby thought absently in the way he studied everyone around him. Trying to look bigger, be more of a threat, and if he was trying to be those things it was likely because Mr. Slacks and Windbreaker and/or his co-workers didn’t think he was.

The bureaucratic bastard was trying to earn his balls by taking over the case and would likely start chasing headlines the moment he was out of Cabe’s sight.

Reaching out to grab Paige’s wrist he nodded at the man trying, stupidly, to intimidate Cabe Gallo.

“He’s trying to prove his worth to his superiors,” he told her flatly. “Trying to prove to his subordinates he’s a leader and trying to prove to himself he’s worthy of the job. He’s going to be looking for the spotlight and terrified of screwing up.”

Paige nodded, he could see her cataloging the information before she extricated her arm from his hand and walked over to the two men who looked as if they were about to come to blows.

She was brilliant. Not in the genius IQ way of the people she spent most of her days with but the kind of brilliance Toby knew he could never master. People skills, the ability to flatter and soothe someone into doing exactly what she wanted without anyone being wiser.

Using those skills Paige came back after two intensely long minutes with Cabe, and while she looked a little frazzled she gave him a cautious smile. “We can go back in but right now we’re not allowed to touch anything.”

“How did you do it?” he asked as the three of them headed towards the door.

Walter, who had been hovering near by muttering to himself, seemed to realize what was happening and moved to join them.

“I simply informed him how terrible it would look if the press found out he had a chance to use the smartest people in the world to stop a bomb from blowing up a decent portion of LA but refused it.”

“We are not worthy of you,” he commended and was rewarded with a smile of surprise from Paige.

“Well, it seemed better than punching him.”

“But only just,” Cabe muttered as they all walked into the garage to see a blonde, female agent standing near Happy and Toby nearly smiled when they got close enough for him to realize Happy was arguing with the female agent with enough intensity the fed took a step back.

“I’m telling if you do that you’ll set the damn thing off.”

“This how we were trained-“

“Then they trained you wrong,” Happy clipped out and maybe it was years of training and schooling or just the fact they’d known each other for years and had been living on top of each other for months but imagined it would be hard for anyone else to see Happy had long passed being simply ‘mad’ and was well into ‘I’m going to kill you if don’t stop talking’ territory.

“Homeland Security guidelines clearly state-“

“That you’re a dumbass,” Happy finished for the agent but her attention was diverted from the blonde in the ponytail when she noticed they were coming towards her. “They gave you a hall pass, huh?”

“Yeah, we can make out in the supply closet but it has to be quick before my homeroom teacher realizes I’ve been gone too long.”

The edge of her lips tilted up in the slightest of smiles and Toby considered it to be the victory of the century.

“Maybe another time, Doc.”

“Can we refocus,” Cabe barked out and Toby forgave him the lack of civility because Happy was standing on a bomb, but the guy really needed to work on his coping mechanisms.

“I’m calling Sylvester,” Paige announced to the room in general. They’d called him earlier after hanging up with Cabe to let him know what was going on since he’d missed all the action being at the hospital with Meagan.

Sylvester, thank God, hadn’t once mentioned the odds of everyone making it out in one piece, let alone Happy and then he’d offered to come to the garage but Walter had told him to stay with Megan. There was no point in risking another person.

“Any update?” Sylvester asked from the speaker on Paige’s phone.

“We’re back in the garage,” Walter spoke up. “No updates on the actual bomb but we’re working on it. There’s something about these countdowns.”

“Something? Like what?” Paige asked.

“I don’t know. Something about the time difference. I’m missing something.”

Toby understood the frustration in Walter’s voice but couldn’t quite agree on the source. He’d been too focused on Happy and keeping his own panic in check he hadn’t given the differential time clocks more than a passing thought.

“What are the times for the two clocks?” Sylvester asked.

Before Homeland had kicked them out the group had put a camera on the countdown underneath Happy which was now displayed on a half dozen Homeland monitors outside along with the laptop sitting on Happy’s work table.

It had been put there only after a heated debate on whether or not she needed to see the time ticking down. Toby had insisted it might affect her thought process and demoralize her while Happy had quipped she worked better on deadline and it wasn’t his decision.

“The one above the door says 3 hours, 16 minutes and 23 seconds,” Happy answered Sylvester.

“The one below is 3 hours, 42 minutes and 29 seconds,” Toby added, having kept his eye on the screen so he could give the exact seconds when Happy rattled off the time.

“That’s a 26 minutes and 6 seconds time difference,” Sylvester calculated.

“That’s a weird time difference,” Paige commented. “Is that how long it took to set up the bombs? Like he set one up, started the timer and then a half hour later he started the other one?”

“No,” Happy argued. “Whoever did it could have set the timers to start counting down at the same time. If they were smart enough to build a bomb as sophisticated as the one I saw in the Homeland photos than making the times match would have been easy.”

Toby glared at her which was generally how he was handling this whole near death experience and he hoped neither she nor the cyclone would hold it against him later when they all made it out alive. It was either glare, be grumpy, or go out of his mind with fear.

“I’m a little worried you sound impressed with the engineering capabilities of the bomber who is currently trying to blow you up. Who, in case anyone is wondering, is probably a white guy in his mid-thirties. Lives alone, little to no social skills and clearly has too much time on his hands.”

“Someone who has a grudge against Scorpion or Happy in particular?” Cabe asked, hands on hips as he studied the countdown on the wall and something about the way he’d said those words caused something to click in Toby’s in mind so he could see the answer as clearly as if someone had written them on the wall below the shifting numbers.

_Shit. Shit, shit, shit._

“Doc?”

Toby looked to Happy and when he noticed all eyes were on him he realized he’d sworn out loud.

“What is it Toby?” Paige asked slowly while Walter stepped forward with an open hand as if he was about to try and calm a wild dog and it was exactly the wrong thing for him to do because Toby was pretty sure he was half a breath away from punching his longtime friend.

Toby moved away from Happy and walked towards Walter, pushing the other man’s hand away and got close enough their noses almost touched. “Tell me 197, what was the date 266 days ago?”

Walter looked confused and glanced around the room as if looking for a clue before returning back to meet Toby’s gaze. “It was October-oh, God.”

“Got it on the first try,” Toby bit out and barely resisted the urge to shove Walter back a step.

“I’m missing something,” Sylvester’s voice commented from the phone in Paige’s hand.

“You’re not the only one,” Happy muttered.

Toby turned around and looked at the hand holding the phone and anyone who knew him would know that even though his tone was cavalier the stiffness in his shoulders and the repeated clenching of his jaw meant he was pissed. Beyond pissed.

“You said the time difference between the two clocks is 26 minutes and 6 seconds.”

Sylvester sounded confused but confirmed his calculations, “Yeah.”

“And Happy said making the timers match would be cinch.”

He looked to her for confirmation and she nodded. “So the time difference of 26 minutes and 6 seconds is likely on purpose and just this morning Walter found a book on his counter which didn’t belong to him or Ralph and unless I’m losing my mojo, nobody else here is reading Alice in Wonderland.”

Toby met Happy’s eyes as he turned with a flourish to face her. “Congratulations, you are standing on a bomb built by your favorite person in the entire world.”

Happy’s eyes narrowed but Toby didn’t explain anything, certain in just a few moments she would understand and true to form it didn’t take more than a second for the pieces to fall into place. If it wasn’t for the fact moving more than a few centimeters would kill her, and everyone within a hundred yards, he would have paid good money she would have punched something.

266 days ago it was October 20, 2014.

“Mark Collins.”

There was anger in each syllable, a hardness in her eyes very few people could bring about, and while Toby hated someone had dared to put her life in danger there was a certain pride she was a strong enough person Mark Collins saw her as a threat. She was brave, and valiant, and loyal and Collins seemed to have come to the conclusion the only wait to get to Happy’s friends was to get rid of her first.

“Oh my god,” came Sylvester’s response at almost the same moment.

Walter immediately turned on his heels and headed towards the door.

“I’ll talk to him,” Paige offered but Toby held out a hand to stop her.

“No. Please, let me.”

As Toby followed Walter out of the garage he saw Cabe pulled out his phone, saying something about figuring out where Collins was being held but Toby didn’t wait to hear the answer as he slammed the garage door shut behind him. He reached out to grab Walter’s shoulder and forcibly turned him around.

“Tell me the truth, Walter. Have you heard from Collins sense he got sent up the river?”

“No.”

Toby studied Walter’s face but even being the best in his field and the best of Walter’s friends he couldn’t be certain Walter was being a hundred percent honest. What he could be certain of was Walter would never put Happy’s life at risk.

She was too important to all of them.

“I can’t believe he’d do this to me,” Walter muttered and Toby couldn’t believe of all things Walter was making this about himself.

“To you?” Toby asked, incredulous. “You think this is being done to you? Because I’m pretty sure you’re not one who is standing on a bomb right now.”

“He put the book on my counter,” Walter argued and Toby could see him get the disconnected look of someone disassociating themselves from what was happening around them. When the going got tough, Toby thought sharply, Walter got withdrew into the safe space of science and reason. “I don’t know when he would he have had time to set up the bombs, there hasn’t been a lot of time we’ve all been out of the garage. We should see if we can track down some of the materials to get a possible location. I should ask-“

Seeing Walter go down the rabbit hole Toby shut him up with a right hook Cabe would have been proud of.

“This wasn’t meant for you Walter!” Toby bit out, straining not to yell. “It was set up in her area, on her side of the garage. This was intended for her!”

“Because of me!” Walter pushed Toby back. “Because she was the one who made me realize what Collins was doing to me, because she was the one who brought me back from the edge.”

He took a few deep breaths and Toby watched his friend calm down and pull himself back together, back to the _now._ “He knows she’s important to me and he did this to hurt me.”

Walter’s eyes widened, his hands coming up to dig his fingers through his hair, and immediately turned to back to the garage but Toby grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“What the hell Walter?”

Shrugging off Toby’s hand Walter made a beeline to the metal door. “I need you to talk to Cabe and have him send someone from the bomb squad to Paige’s house.”

“Why?”

“Because if Collins is really trying to hurt me by hurting the people I care about Paige and Ralph are going to be on that list.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm working on the next chapter at this very moment and will hopefully have it posted by the weekend
> 
>  
> 
> [share on tumblr if you liked it!](http://awriterincowboyboots.tumblr.com/post/138143824334/better-dig-two-chp-2)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy makes a decision which will either (literally) blow up in her face or save the day.  
> Toby has a hard(er) time.

After Walter talked to Cabe, the wizened old fed had taken the bomb squad with him to go check Paige’s house and sent another team to meet up with Sylvester at the hospital. Toby seriously doubted there would be a bomb in Megan’s room though, mostly because Collins likely didn’t know Walter had a sister but also because if Sly wasn’t by Megan's side Walter was so there wouldn’t have been much of a chance for Collins to sneak in any explosives.

One point for overprotective machoism.

“Where are they going?” Happy asked when Cabe left with Walter after a quick and quiet conversation.

“To check out Paige’s house and Megan’s hospital room,” Toby answered as he shifted his weight on his feet, the anxious energy pulsing just under skin because there was nothing he could to help and it was slowly driving him crazy.

“My house? Why are they going to my house?” Paige asked from her desk where she was going through the hacked files of the FBI to find out what Homeland apparently couldn’t.

Where exactly Mark Collins was.

“Walter didn’t tell you?” Toby asked, casting a glance at Happy who seemed to realize there was something amiss.

“No. Was he supposed to?”

“I guess not,” Toby evaded. “They just want to make sure you and Ralph are safe and there aren’t any more bombs hiding in wait.”

“And what’s the real reason?” Happy asked, her voice low enough Paige wouldn’t be able to hear.

“Walter’s stupid in love with her and Collins knows.”

“How does Collins know? I didn’t think he was aware of human emotion.”

“I would have said the same thing about Walter a year ago, but things change.” He shifted again and Happy narrowed her eyes and he could practically hear the scold in the sharp look she sent him so he forced himself to stop moving. “I asked Walter about it and I guess he confronted Collins after he got out of the hospital.”

“Cabe should have shot him twice.”

“I’m not going to disagree.” He stepped forward then remembered the damn pressure plate and moved back again, not wanting to take any chances. “Anyway, Collins asked why there hadn’t been room for one more person on the team and Walter apparently decided instigating the madman was a great idea and told Collins there was room for another person on the team.”

“Paige.”

“Yeah. So Collins figured out there was something different about her and God only knows what he’s been listening in on since then.”

“I don’t even want to think about,” Happy grimaced.

“Also, in the interest of full disclosure I punched Walter.”

"What? Why?"

"It felt like the thing to do at the time," Toby shrugged.

"Speaking of things to do...I’ve been thinking.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

She didn't argue with him which worried him almost as much as the cryptic statement had. “We don’t know if those times are right, Doc.”

“What do you mean?”

Happy nodded towards the countdown still mocking them from the wall. “The countdowns could be fake, we don’t know if that’s how much time we really have left. We need to defuse the bomb before it randomly blows up and takes out half the block.”

“Is that how much TNT or whatever he’s got down there?”

“It’s C4,” Happy corrected automatically. “Yeah. While you were guys were out messing with Windbreaker out there they took an x-ray and there’s enough C4 to take out this building and every building within 600 feet.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, Blondie said they were evacuating the buildings but it’s slow going. We need to neutralize the bomb because it could off at any time and hurt who knows how many people.”

“Including you,” he pointed out fiercely because he knew Happy, he knew what being part of Scorpion had done to all of them. There was a part of them now which would willingly give up their lives to protect others and he’d be damned if he’d let her throw herself on the altar as a sacrifice.

“Including me,” she confirmed. “But I can’t stop thinking about what happened at the reactor.”

“Collins used your instincts against you,” he remembered, and at the same time he recalled the bright rage he’d felt at seeing Collins’ smugness and Happy’s anger at herself for doing what came naturally.

Happy nodded in agreement, “He might have done it again, he could have designed that bomb so following my instincts, following what I know, would set it off.”

“And he might have guessed you’d remember the reactor and go against your instincts thinking he’d use them against you and design the bomb to go off that way. We could go in circles for days.”

“And we don’t have days.”

He looked at her and saw something different on her face, a kind of determination which terrified him in a way he couldn’t quite describe. “What are you suggesting?”

“We have to do something,” she told him. “We can’t just sit here and wait for it to go off. Paige!”

From other side of the shelves Paige appeared with a small stack of papers in her hand, “Yeah?”

“Will you get the bomb squad lady in here? Tell her we need to disarm the bomb now.”

“What? No. Won’t that set it off?”

“We can get rid of most of the C4,” Happy explained. “Contain the damage so if the bomb goes off, it's limited to just the garage.”

“Fuck that, Happy.”

She ignored him and focused on Paige, “We can’t trust the time and the sooner we do this the better chance we’ll have. Please, go get her.”

Paige didn't look convinced but she nodded. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“Wait, did you find anything?” Toby asked before Paige could move away. “Did you find out where Collins is?”

“I found out where he used to be,” she admitted, stepping closer to Toby and Happy with such a look of concern on her face Toby knew the news was going to be nothing but bad. “There was a transfer order to take Mark Collins upstate.”

“So he’s not in the area.”

“He’s not anywhere. I called the high security prison he was supposed to be transferred to and he’s not an inmate there. He was never an inmate there.”

“The son of a bitch escaped.”

Paige nodded and looked more than a little pissed off. “And I think the Feds knew about it but didn’t say anything.”

“They wanted to save face,” Toby guessed.

“Collins probably used some wiring to hack into the servers at the prison,” Happy guessed. “Made up the transfer order and escaped somewhere along the way.”

“When was this?”

Paige looked the papers in her hand, her eyes scanning through the pages before she looked up. “Two months ago.”

“He’s been planning this since then,” and while there was no way Toby could know for certain he’d bet his life on it.

“Can you do it, Happy?” Paige asked. “Can you really defuse the bomb?”

“I know it’s our only option.”

Paige nodded and Toby briefly resented the confidence she seemed to have that everything would work okay. “I’ll go get the bomb squad agent.”

“Once you do, stay outside,” Happy warned. “In fact, get as far as you can from the garage just to be safe.”

“Okay,” Paige agreed but there were tears in her eyes. “If I wouldn’t set the bomb off I’d totally hug you right now.”

Happy laughed, “It’s the thought that counts.”

“Be safe.”

“You too.”

Toby watched Paige walk out of the garage before he turned back to Happy, “I hope you’re not planning on sending me off with a pat on the head too.”

“You have to go.”

And while it was childish and ridiculous the only thing he could think to say was, “Make me.”

She laughed and shook her head, “You can stay for now. But when I start to diffuse the bomb you have to go.”

“Whatever you say, Hap.”

Happy rolled her eyes but then he saw her spine stiffen and he looked over his shoulder to see Agent Blondie walking into the garage looking harassed and if she hated being ordered around she was going to hate the rest of her day with Happy controlling her every movement.

“You’re going to let me touch the bomb now?” she asked with more sarcasm than Toby thought the situation needed.

“You’re going to be my hands,” Happy corrected. “Take a camera down there and I’ll tell you what screws to unscrew, what wires to cut, and when to breathe.”

Blondie opened her mouth to argue but Toby cut her off by holding up his hand, “What’s your IQ?”

“Excuse me?”

“What’s your IQ?” Toby repeated. “Because whatever it is I can assure you it is nowhere close to the woman standing on this pressure plate and if by some chance you were within 50 points of her, you still don’t have her instincts so you’re going to shut up and you're going to listen to her so you don’t get us all killed.”

“You’re both a pain in my ass,” she informed them. “But I’m willing to set that aside to get this done but I want you both to realize when I go down there and starting cutting into wires and moving stuff it’s not just her life on the line. It’s mine too.”

Sufficiently scolded Toby nodded. “Understood.”

“Let me get my tools and we’ll get started. I’ll use a body camera so Miss Quinn can see what I’m doing and can direct me, I’ll have the tech guys put the video on your laptop.”

“Thanks.”

Blondie nodded at Happy before walking out and suddenly Toby realized he and Happy had the garage to themselves, if just for a moment.

“If she’s going to help you save the day we should probably learn her name.”

She made a noncommittal noise. “Are you going to look at me or just stare at the floor?” she challenged.

He shook his head and studied the toes of his shoes. “If I look at you I’m afraid I’ll destroy all your long held belief in my manliness.”

“Trust me, that ship has long since sailed.”

Fighting back tears because they didn’t do either of them any good Toby swallowed back the emotions even as he laughed. “Be still my heart.”

“Doc, you got to get out of here.”

“To hell with that,” Toby argued, shrugging his shoulders as if he was shaking off some fed from Homeland who dared to try and escort him out of the garage and away from Happy who was standing on a ticking bomb.

“Toby,” she bit out, emotion making her voice hard. “I’m going to need to help them disarm this bomb and I’m not going to be able to concentrate if I’m worried about you getting blown up in the process.”

He clenched his fists because he wanted to simultaneously grab her and punch something but he kept his voice intentionally light and teasing as he spoke. Maybe if she only heard the smile she wouldn’t know he was falling apart at the idea of leaving her. “Are you sure? I could maybe hand the bomb lady her tools or something.”

She huffed out a laugh, “Go or I’ll have Cabe come in here and knock you out.”

“I don’t know, he’s getting pretty old. I think I can take him,” he argued, laughter hiding the nerves and the fear he could feel in every atom of his body.

“Tobias.”

“I thought you only called me that when we were-”

“Not the place,” she interrupted, scolding him with a look which only served to make him smile even as his heart beat unsteadily against his ribs. 

“Hold on,” he stepped away, the first time since he’d been allowed back inside the garage he’d moved more than a few feet away from her. Reaching into one the drawers near Walter’s desk he pulled out a small case not much bigger than his palm and walked back to Happy.

“Here, if I’m going to walk out and just leave you with a bomb and what’s-her-face I want to know everything that’s going on. I’m also going to be watching from the laptop’s camera and that’s non-negotiable.”

“Fine,” she reached out, took the com and slipped it into her ear. “But no talking. I wasn’t kidding about you not distracting me.”

“Agreed.” The door opened behind him and he turned to see Agent Blondie come in wearing a vest with a camera attached to the front and a tool box in her hands.

“Ready, Miss Quinn?”

“It’s Happy,” she corrected. “Do you have a name?”

The agent sighed and rolled her eyes, “Rachel. I did introduce myself when I came in the first time.”

Happy shrugged, “You were also talking like an idiot. Let’s do this.”

Rachel nodded and moved to the vent. Toby waited until her ponytail disappeared underneath the floor before looking back at Happy but she spoke before he had a chance.

“Time to go, Doc.”

He nodded and tried to force his feet to move even an inch. “If you weren’t standing on a pressure plate I’d kiss you right now.”

“I know.”

“And I-”

“Don’t,” she interrupted, stopping him before he could finish his declaration, but there was something which sounded like hope in her voice. “The first time you thought we were going to die in a forest fire and now you want to say it while I’m standing on a bomb?”

“I thought saying it in dangerous situations made it more romantic,” he quipped.

“It really doesn’t.”

“After,” and he said the word like a challenge, like a promise.

“After.”

He finally got his feet to move, though each step away from Happy was almost physically painful and when he walked through the door he realized in the short time they’d had alone Homeland had moved the tents, cars, and agents back. He found Cabe huddled with another agent Toby didn’t recognize and caught his attention.

“I didn’t expect you back so soon," Toby commented when they were close enough to talk under one of tents.

“There weren't any bombs,” Cabe replied by way of an answer. “We used the bomb sniffing dogs, did a full sweep, there was nothing at either Paige’s house or the hospital.”

“Makes me wonder if he’s just saving Paige for another time.”

Cabe nodded. “She told me he’d gotten out. Walter needs to talk to her, let her know exactly what’s going on.”

Toby scoffed, “Good luck with that.”

“I don’t suppose I can convince you to have that conversation with her.”

“Not a chance, but I’ll see what I can do to nudge Walter along.”

Catching sight of an unattended laptop Toby grabbed it and set it on a table near where Cabe was standing and after doing a few things which would be basic to Walter and Sylvester he pulled up the videos of both Happy and Rachel, viewing them side by side on the screen.

“That our girl?”

“Yeah, she’s telling Agent Rachel what to do.” Toby slipped the com into place and was immediately calmed by the sound of Happy’s voice clipping out instructions in his ear.

He felt people move up behind him and Toby wordlessly held out the case to Paige and Walter who silently took them.

Three minutes in Paige brought over chairs and with a gentle but commanding touch forced him to sit down beside her. She rubbed a hand along his back in calming circles but six minutes in he couldn’t sit still anymore and began pacing behind the row of chairs where Walter and Cabe also sat.

Out of the corner of his eye Toby saw Paige lean towards Walter where he sat still as a statue, his face impassive and hard. “Walter? How are you doing?”

Paige’s voice was gentle, as if the words would topple Walter if she said anything too fast or too hard.

“She’ll be fine,” Walter replied by way of answer. “If anyone can get through this it’s Happy.”

And understanding all the words he couldn’t say she reached down and took his hand, and didn’t complain even though Toby could see Walter was holding on too tight.

That's when, from inside the garage, the sound of an explosion rocked them all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [share on tumblr if you liked it!](http://awriterincowboyboots.tumblr.com/post/142113096604/better-dig-two-chp-3)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after a vibration throws Toby and the rest of the people outside of the garage to the ground he's determined to get inside to make Happy is safe, alive, and one piece. and if she isn't, he's going to kill the son of a bitch Mark Collins.
> 
> on second thought, he might kill him either way

The ringing in his ears barely had a chance to register before Toby was back on his feet, thrown by the vibration of whatever had happened inside the garage. Beside him Walter was by Paige, checking to make sure she was okay but Toby was more worried about the woman who had been inside the garage standing on a bomb the last time he’d seen her.

His braced himself on the table, his balance shaky, but eventually managed to walk across the asphalt. People were running everywhere, a barely contained chaos as everyone worried the bomb had gone off, but considering the garage was still standing Toby wondered if he could allow himself to hope Happy and Rachel had managed to contain the bomb before it went off.

“Toby, what are you doing?”

Turning, teetering, he turned to face Cabe with a look which Toby hoped expressed how unimpressed he was by the question. “I thought I’d go see if Happy wanted Mexican tonight.”

“You can barely stand.”

Toby waved off his concern and turned again to face the door and was almost within reaching distance of the threshold when a broad shouldered Fed stepped in front of Toby. “You can’t go in there.”

“Fuck that,” Toby bit out as he tried to push past the agent who almost twice his size.

“Sir, you can’t-“

“Do you want me to kick your ass?” Toby asked, certain in the moment he could exactly that even if there was a chance a strong breeze could throw him off balance and topple him over.

“Let him through.”

Toby didn’t bother to thank Cabe for his interference, instead moving past the overgrown man and stumbling through the open door. His eyes searched the space of Happy’s work area which was already crowded by personnel wearing the same matching windbreakers. His heart lurched and reeled when he didn’t see her anywhere near the pressure plate.

He had experienced the “blood run cold” sensation before, you didn’t spend your life breaking in and out of things, dodging life and limb scenarios and not know what that particular sensation feels like but he’d never felt the chill reach so deep it was in his individual atoms.

“Happy?”

His voice shook, was too high pitched, but he didn’t give a shit right now whether or not he sounded manly.

“Here.”

Looking to his right where the office space was he saw Happy sitting on the ground next to the overturned shelves which usually separated Happy’s area with the rest of the garage. She looked, as impossible as it seemed, okay.

Running toward her he bent at the knee, his eyes going over every inch of her he could see to check for any cuts, any torn clothing, anything which might indicate she was anything other than in one piece.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asked even as he ran a hand down her arms as if expecting to find broken bones but she stopped his hands with hers.

“I’m okay, I’m fine. I promise.”

He nodded, framing her face with his hands and touching her forehead with his as he took his first full breath in longer than he could remember. “Can I say it now?”

“Yeah,” she breathed. “You can say it now.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I know how you feel about public displays of affection, but-“

“Just kiss me,” she ordered, tugging on the lapel of his jacket to pull him closer.

They’d kissed a hundred times before, each slightly different than the each other. They’d been happy or angry, soft or frantic, and a few where they couldn’t kiss properly because they were smiling too wide, but this kiss was something else altogether.

There was something strong here which could almost be described as a falling together, as if his whole life had been waiting for this moment to know, no matter, everything was going to be okay.  When they kissed there was all the hope for tomorrow and because he couldn’t quite find it in him to let her go he wrapped his arms around her and held on tight.

“You guys mind doing that somewhere else?” Cabe asked and while Toby was certain the older man had intended to sound gruff there was the slight uptick of a smile at the corner of the agent’s mouth.

“This is officially my favorite place in the world,” Toby informed him.

“You guys are going to need to clear out. Crime scene techs need access to the room.”

Toby nodded and looked down at Happy. “Can you walk?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted as she reached up to grab the lapels of his jacket as if it was the only thing keeping her from falling the rest of the way to the ground. “I can’t feel my legs.”

The macho guy in him desperately wanted to be the knight in shining armor, picking her up and carrying her out of the building but the man in him knew Happy wouldn’t want that. She would want to walk out of the garage on her own two feet, a last ‘fuck you’ to Mark Collins and what he’d tried to accomplish here.

So instead, he stood up and grabbed Happy’s hands to pull her up, ignoring the hiss of pain she let out because there was no way he could take it from her, even though it was all he wanted to do.

“Still with me?” he asked as wrapped his arm around her shoulders and let her lean heavily against him.

“Still with you,” she promised, one of her arms going around the middle, the other still holding on to his jacket tight enough her knuckles were nearly white.

Cabe’s eyes were serious as they watched Happy take one painful step after another. “I’m sorry kid, but they need your clothes.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Happy sighed. “Take me to the back?”

Toby nodded and changed their course till they were in the bathroom with a handful of paper bags and a change of clothes for Happy. Agent Windbreaker had tried to protest, insisting an agent needed to collect the evidence but Cabe had not so patiently reminded the agent-in-charge Scorpion was well aware of evidence procedure and as contractors of the United States government were capable of collecting a pile of clothes.

“You need water,” Toby told her as he helped sit on the lid of the toilet seat.

“Water later, I want to get out of these clothes.”

There were bruises on her skin from where she must have landed on her side, and every time she moved her legs she made a small sound of pain. “What happened?” he asked to take both their minds off her discomfort. “The garage looks like a bomb went off in it.”

Happy gave him an almost imperceptible shake of her head at his honestly very lame joke along with a roll of her eyes.

“We couldn’t disarm the bomb but we figured out how to disengage it from the pressure plate. There wasn’t any way to be sure how much time we had so Rachel came topside with the bomb and we threw it in the safe I was teaching you how to crack. It didn’t keep the bomb from blowing up but it minimized the damage.”

Toby thought back to when he’d come into the garage, he’d barely looked at the damage to the office space but he could remember seeing the desks had been thrown around the room, charred and some of them twisted in bizarre shapes suitable for a modern art gallery, filing cabinets were thrown open spilling paper everywhere. That could have been Happy.

“We’re totally adding Agent Blondie to the Christmas card list.”

“We have a Christmas card list?” she asked as he helped into one of his button up shirts because it would be easier for her to put on then one of hers.

“We’re making a Christmas card list,” he amended. “And putting her name on the top.”

“Sounds good.”

Her voice sounded different, groggy and muffled. “Are you okay?”

“I think the shock is wearing off. I can’t keep my eyes open.”

“All right, Hap. Let’s get you out of here.”

She was wearing a pair of socks, his shirt, and a pair of sweats which might have been Paige’s when she walked out of the garage but walk out she did.

There was enough chaos in and around the garage Toby was able to get around to the side of the garage where he’d parked his car only a few hours ago. It could have been a previous life, it felt so long ago, when he’d woken up with Happy curled against his side.

“We’re almost there,” he murmured in her ear and shifted his and Happy’s weight so he could open the door without having to make Happy stand on her own. She all but melted into the seat, her legs stretching out in front of her as he reached in to fasten her seat belt because she looked half asleep already.

When he shut the door and stepped back he saw Walter standing a few feet away as if he wasn’t sure he should make his presence know. Toby walked towards him, “If the feds start asking, I’m taking Happy home. They can wait to talk to her tomorrow. And as my boss I’m giving you a heads up we’re both going to be calling in sick to work tomorrow.”

Walter smiled but it looked as tired as Toby felt. “Fair enough, especially since we probably won’t have a place to work for a few days.”

Paige would probably have to deal with Homeland, the crime scene techs, and replacing all of the broken and blown up furniture. Toby did not envy her in the least. “Any word on Collins?”

“No,” and the single word sounded both angry and despondent. “Not yet.”

“We’ll find him.”

“I don’t know,” Walter argued. “We didn’t even know he had escaped prison, that he was in L.A.”

“But we do now,” Toby pointed out with a kind of optimism he hadn’t know he possessed until he’d opened his mouth to speak. “We know he’s out there and whatever Collins has planned I can assure you he’s forgetting one important thing.”

“What’s that?”

“No matter how smart he thinks he is, he’s not as smart as all of us. When Scorpion sets its collective minds to something we accomplish it. So go home, get some rest, and then we'll regroup and start searching for the son of a bitch who thought he could come into our house and put one of our people in danger.”

“You think we can find him.”

“I don’t think, I know. Have a little faith, Walter. We can do this.”

Walter nodded and Toby thought he might look a little more convinced now than when he’d walked up a few moments ago and since Toby was spilling truth and wisdom on his friend he figured he might as well give one more piece of advice.

“You should tell her.”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb, you know what I’m talking about. We were lucky today, we were so damn lucky, but this could just have easily gone the wrong way and it would have killed me if anything happened to Happy but if something had, I would have at least known she knew how I felt about her. So tell Paige before not telling her goes from something you should have done to something you’ll regret not having done for the rest of your life.”

Confident he’d made his point, and before Walter could start arguing, Toby walked to the driver’s side door and slid in to his seat to start the engine.

“What was that all about?” Happy asked, her voice groggy.

Toby reached across the car to take her hand, kissing the back of it with a kind of reverence which would have made Happy roll her eyes if she wasn’t exhausted from standing for hours.

“Just gave him a little friendly advice. Let’s go home.”

Happy nodded and leaned her head back against her seat, closing her eyes as Toby turned on the radio.

His phone rang in his pocket and despite laws against it he put it to his ear, normally he’d have put it on speakerphone but he didn’t want to risk waking a now sleeping Happy.

“Hey, Paige.”

“Hey, Walter said you and Happy left?”

“Yeah, she’s currently asleep in my passenger seat and I’m headed home. Why, did you need something?”

“No, I just thought I’d give you an update.”

“Shoot.”

“Rachel, the bomb squad agent? She said there was dust on the bomb.”

“Dust?”

“She said she can’t be certain, but based on her experience the bomb has been in place for more than a few days.”

“We were in Texas last week,” Toby realized. “That’s how he got the bomb in place without anyone knowing.”

“That’s what I was thinking and I was wondering, would there be a way to do the same thing with the pressure plate? Put it in, I mean, without it going off?”

“Maybe, if there was a way to keep it from depressing until he wanted it to be stepped on. Happy would know the specifics but it would make it easier, wouldn’t it? If all he had to do last night was sneak in and make the pressure plate active. He wouldn’t do it himself, though.”

“He wouldn’t?”

“Too much risk of getting caught,” Toby thought out loud. “And remember the nuclear reactor? He did almost nothing, we did all the work for him.”

“So he got someone to come in and do it for him. We could check the cameras, see who was in the area around the times the bomb would have been place and again last night.”

“That’s a great idea, but do you think we can do this tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Of course. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, you organize in a crisis, it’s normal.”

“Is Happy okay?”

“She’s tough, she’ll be fine.”

“And you?”

“I’ll get there eventually.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

“Will do. Thanks, Paige.”

As he pulled into the underground parking to his apartment building it occurred to him Happy hadn’t asked whose home they were going to, but Toby figured in the end it didn’t matter because wherever they were going, wherever they were headed, they were going together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [share on tumblr if you liked it!](http://awriterincowboyboots.tumblr.com/post/138845645389/better-dig-two-chp-4)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just because the bomb didn't kill anyone doesn't mean the story is over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i took way too long to update this, i apologize.

Walter walked into the garage to see Paige standing at the edge of the wreckage in her high heels and pretty skirt and he had a sudden flash of what it would have been like if it had been Paige on the pressure plate.

Losing her was such an incompatible thought, even when she had nearly packed up and moved across the country he had almost convinced himself she wouldn’t actually go through with it but what if the time came when she didn’t have a say in it?

They led dangerous lives and had made their share of enemies across the globe and it was entirely probable Paige would be put in a situation Walter and Scorpion couldn’t get her out of, couldn’t save her from.

Suddenly, he couldn’t remember how to breathe.

He didn’t know how Toby had done it, how he’d remained as calm as he had been when the love of his life wasn’t just on the edge of danger, but standing on top it.

If it had been Paige, Walter knew for a fact he’d have gone out of his mind with all the ways it could wrong and there was only one logical conclusion to come to, when your happiness and sanity depended on the health and safety of one person.

Turned out the man with no EQ believed in love after all.

“Hell of a day, huh?”

Paige turned to him, arms crossed, and gave him a shaky smile. “To say the least. Did Happy and Toby leave?”

“Yeah, he told me he was taking her home and wouldn’t be in to work tomorrow.”

Paige let out a quiet chuckle as she turned back to the mess which remained of their office. “Sounds fair. It’s a good thing you guys have me around. When I came on board your insurance was three months past due, at least you guys don’t have to worry about paying to get the place back in order.”

“Yeah, we're lucky,” he agreed softly. “Listen, Paige-“

“I’m going to call one of those emergency numbers,” she decided. “So they can board up the windows. Do you think we should have the computers packed away until we can put the alarm system back online?”

She bent down in the space where her desk used to be but was now toppled over and she picked up an empty folder and the first pen she could find and started to make a list.

“Do you want to upgrade the stuff that’s ruined or just replace them with replicas?” she asked as she started to make notes. “Because if we’re going to be buying stuff we might as well-“

But the words were cut off as Walter took the pen and folder from her hands, dropping them on the ground amidst the debris and cupped her face before leaning in to kiss her.

There was a moment of panic when she didn’t respond but it was only an instant before she was wrapping her arms around his middle, pulling him closer and there was a click in his brain of something falling in place, or maybe it was heart, he couldn’t tell while his hands were in her hair and her body pressed against his.

He remembered, in the back of his mind, of a story Megan had once told him of how souls had once been a single person split in two because the gods fear mankind.

It was irrational, and mathematically impossible if one took in the population growth, but with Paige’s taste on his tongue and her curves beneath his fingertips he couldn’t help but wonder if she was somehow his other half and if that was why it was so easy to fit her body and mind against his.

Paige pulled back a half an inch, her breath and his were both erratic so when she said his name it was shaky and breathless and he barely heard the syllables roll off her lips. “Walter.”

Hearing his name in the quiet of the garage he realized what he’d done. He dropped his hands and took a step back, “I’m sorry. I should have asked permission first, or-I don’t know. This probably wasn’t the right time but I saw what Toby and Happy went through today and it could have just as easily been you.”

“Walter-“

He shook his head, cutting off her words with the movement. “It could have been you. Or Ralph.” _Ralph,_ his brain realized with a panic and his heart squeezed tightly. “Collins is smart, you know that, but he’s not smart enough to know where my weaknesses really are. He picked Happy because she stood up to him, because she fought back, and he didn’t like not being able to beat someone down. But if he had bothered to look, to really look at what was important to me he’d have gone after you and Ralph. Apparently it’s obvious enough for everyone else to see it.”

She simply stared at him, eyes wide and lips soft, and before he lost his courage he pushed through. “Which I know isn’t the greatest endorsement for starting anything with me but Toby told me if anything had happened to Happy at least she would have known how he felt and I realized if anything happened to you, or to me, you wouldn’t know you and Ralph are the two most important things which have ever happened to me and if it had been you today I don’t think I would have handled it as well as Toby did.”

“He punched you,” she pointed out and Walter laughed.

“Yeah,” he rubbed a hand along his jaw. “It turns out I’m in love with you Paige Dineen, you and Ralph.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in love, you said it was all make believe.”

“I was wrong,” he admitted with a deprecating smile and he half wished he had Toby in his ear to confirm what Walter suspected, that the look on Paige's face was hopeful and not hesitant. “And Paige, I have never been so happy to be proven wrong in my life. And if you don’t feel the same, or you don’t think I’m right-“

This time it was Paige who cut off his words as they fumbled past his lips. She leaned forward and kissed him _(and wasn’t it so nice they were practically the same height and she didn’t have to get on her toes or pull him down)_ and his arms immediately went around her to pull her against him and in the midst of the debris caused by hate, love found its way home.

If the phone in his pocket hadn’t gone off Walter wasn’t entirely certain he would have ever stopped kissing her, and even then he was willing to let the call go to voicemail but Paige pulled away, looking flushed and beautiful and Walter wondered if there was a way to calculate the odds of getting her upstairs to his loft.

“You should answer that.”

Walter blinked, his mind having strayed to _Paige_ and _Upstairs_ and all the things which could follow. “Right, yeah.”

Pulling out his cell he checked the caller id out of habit but didn’t recognize the number on the screen. “Hello.”

There was no voice on the other side of the line, just a quiet static followed by series of beeps.

“Who is it?”

“Get your phone,” he ordered and winced at how clipped the words came out. “Please.”

She nodded and went to the shelf where she must have set her phone down when she’d come in. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. Putting the call on speaker, he watched Paige unlock her phone and seeming to already know what he was going to ask pulled up the recorder app and they stood quietly as the fifteen seconds of beeping repeated itself twice.

“That’s Morse code,” she realized when he finally ended the call.

“You know Morse code?”

“Ralph has really gotten into it the past few days,” she admitted with a fond, if exasperated smile. “When we’re at home he’s tapping out his breakfast orders on the table but I'm not picking it up as quickly as he'd like.”

Walter picked up the folder Paige had been making notes on earlier and decoded the message as Paige brushed up against his, looking over his shoulder as he turned sounds into letters.

“Cyclone: 1,” she read out loud. “Scorpion: 0. Game on.”

“We’re the cyclone,” he clarified.

“And Collins is the scorpion,” Paige added with realization. “He’s not done yet.”

Walter reached down and took her hand, linking her fingers with his and finding comfort in the return of her grip.

“No, he’s not. We have to find him Paige.”

She squeezed his hand once and gave him an encouraging smile, “And we will, because we’re a cyclone and he’s out there on his own. He’s got nothing on us.”

“He really doesn’t,” Walter agreed and resisted the urge to kiss her again because now that he’d done it, he wasn’t sure there would ever be a point where he’d be done.

She glanced back down at her other hand where she still held her phone and looked up to meet his eyes. “I need to pick up Ralph from school. Do you want to come with me?”

Walter shifted on his feet, pleased and weirdly nervous. “Yeah. I’d love to.”

 ####################

 “I hate baths.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Toby assured her as he sat on the toilet lid in the bathroom of the little apartment they more or less lived in together. “But it’s good for you, it helps the circulation to your legs and gives your muscles the chance to relax without cramping. You’ll be sore tomorrow though, not much I can do about that.”

“I just want to sleep for twenty hours straight,” Happy sighed as she slid deeper into the tub, bubbles up to her chin. Since the only liquid soap they had was his Toby had squirted his body wash as the porcelain tub had filled up with scalding hot water and now the room was filled with the smell of sandalwood and some of other scent he could never remember the name of.

“That can be arranged. Just don’t do it in the bathtub,” he warned as he stretched his legs out, comfortable in the sweats and Harvard shirt he practically lived in at home. “I told Walter we wouldn’t be coming in tomorrow so I figured we could just stay in bed with take out and yell at the tv.”

“Sounds like a plan, Doc.”

Toby watched Happy as she closed her eyes. He liked watching her when she wasn’t watching him. She often put her guard up so unconsciously it was almost like breathing and he liked studying her in the moments when she was so lost in what she was doing all the walls fell away. There was a peace he couldn’t quite put his finger on when she was dealing with complicated wiring, sketching out plans of something she was determined to build. It was as if all the tension was released from her muscles and she was just able to be.

Now that he was living with her he got to see those moments more often whether it be when she fell asleep on his shoulder or was making breakfast, and it was the kind of thing he wanted for keeps.

“You know I’m planning on asking you to marry me at some point, right?”

His tone was casual, which was of course was how he handled all serious topics of conversation. Partly because he didn’t want to pressure Happy and partly because he was slightly terrified of letting her know how capable she was of destroying him.

She didn’t open her eyes but there was a slight smile in the curve of her lips. “Yeah, I kind of figured.”

“You okay with that?”

“Yeah, I’m okay with that.”

“Cool.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like to state for the official record i had the idea of toby bringing up a hypothetical proposal before it aired on the show
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> [share on tumblr if you liked it!](http://awriterincowboyboots.tumblr.com/post/142088284989/better-dig-two-chp-5)


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